Cannes 2013: Still 'Cannes' pronounce it!

Never mind how the locals say it. In mispronouncing the name of a foreign land, you truly make it yours.

I overheard a fellow journalist, a non-Indian, speaking on the phone in the media room yesterday. From the sound of it, he was on some sort of business call; the kind of call where eavesdroppers can tell the person on the other end of the line is a person of significance. With a hint of pride he informed this person of consequence that he is in France. But when it came to stating the name of the city, the hesitation was unmistakable. "I'm at cans... can… yes, ken..." was what it sounded like from where I was sitting.

Embarrassment notwithstanding, mispronouncing the name of a foreign place is oddly endearing. It's always fun to see how people, through this strangely unifying struggle to pronounce, bring a part of themselves to the place they travel to. And in doing so, we truly make it ours. Not like we don't do the same back home when we bring in influences from overseas (a case in point being the bizarre mix of masala and noodles we so confidently call Chinese food) but when this happens while we're out of our zone of comfort, it's a whole different thing.

As far as the word Cannes goes, every delegate at the festival has a unique way of saying it, depending on which part of the world he or she is from. Add to that their individual belief of how it's pronounced. The degree of confidence, however, varies. Somehow, the Latin Americans get one thing right; they know better than to pronounce the 'S' in Cannes.

Apparently, many French words have a silent 'S' at the end. Those from Western nations like the UK or the USA invariably say it with the 'S' like we Indians do. Just this morning, one journalist said 'con' which, apparently, much to his horror, is some kind of profane word here in France. His colleague corrected him saying it is 'ken'. I had to frown at that.

As it turns out, according to a Mumbai-based French teacher, who is a family friend of mine, it's 'kaan'. Could be. One clue is the 'Kaan' (Hindi for ear) Radio Awards in India. The name is, after all, an attempted pun on the term 'Cannes Lions'. This is how I, after several faux pas (pardon my French), zeroed in on an acceptable pronunciation.

Aishwarya Rai insists on calling it 'can'. So, maybe that's correct too (yes, you caught me. I am a fan). Given that there's a bus stand with a breathtaking black and white picture of her splashed across it in the heart of the city - not to mention the ones at the entrance of every other Indian store in Cannes - helps her case. It actually makes one re-think whether it is, in fact, 'can' and not 'kaan'. And I can swear I've heard some locals say it this way, too.

Sure, ultimately, there is only one right way of saying it, but that doesn't necessarily mean the other twisted, totally off-the-mark versions are wrong.

They're just closer to home.